De-staining and re-staining mucins in formalin fixed paraffin sections

Flow chamber staining modality for real-time inspection of dynamic phenotypes in multiple histological stains

Traditional histological stains, such as hematoxylin-eosin (HE), special stains, and immunofluorescence (IF), have defined myriads of cellular phenotypes and tissue structures in a separate stained section. However, the precise connection of information conveyed by the various stains in the same section, which may be important for diagnosis, is absent. Here, we present a new staining modality-Flow chamber stain, which complies with the current staining workflow but possesses newly additional features non-seen in conventional stains, allowing for (1) quickly switching staining modes between destain and restain for multiplex staining in one single section from routinely histological preparation, (2) real-time inspecting and digitally capturing each specific stained phenotype, and (3) efficiently synthesizing graphs containing the tissue multiple-stained components at site-specific regions. Comparisons of its stains with those by the conventional staining fashions using the microscopic images of mouse tissues (lung, heart, liver, kidney, esophagus, and brain), involving stains of HE, Periodic acid-Schiff, Sirius red, and IF for Human IgG, and mouse CD45, hemoglobin, and CD31, showed no major discordance. Repetitive experiments testing on targeted areas of stained sections confirmed the method is reliable with accuracy and high reproducibility. Using the technique, the targets of IF were easily localized and seen structurally in HE- or special-stained sections, and the unknown or suspected components or structures in HE-stained sections were further determined in histological special stains or IF. By the technique, staining processing was videoed and made a backup for off-site pathologists, which facilitates tele-consultation or -education in current digital pathology. Mistakes, which might occur during the staining process, can be immediately found and amended accordingly. With the technique, a single section can provide much more information than the traditional stained counterpart. The staining mode bears great potential to become a common supplementary tool for traditional histopathology.

New decolorization method produces more information from tissue sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin stain and masson-trichrome stain

Histological analysis is a fundamental and principal method used in biological research and even for disease diagnosis. The result shows the status of cells and tissues in organs and enables us to infer the condition of the whole body. The tissue staining method known as hematoxylin and eosin staining (HE) is one of the most general methods of investigating the status of cells and tissues. Hematoxylin stains the nucleus violet and eosin stains cytosol pink. HE staining shows the unique morphologies of tissues and cells. However, after being stained with HE, tissues are very difficult to use in another histological analysis because hematoxylin is hard to remove from the sections due to its stain stability. Therefore, serial sections of the tissue are used to obtain more information through another staining, including immunohistochemistry. The adjacent tissue section is not the same as the HE-stained section, however, so the results from the adjacent sections can cause confusion or ambiguity. The present study showed that our decolorization solution can decolor the hematoxylin or iron hematoxylin stain from stained structures, including the nucleus, and the decolored section could be stained again in another staining, including immunohistochemistry. This decolorization method is very valuable, in that it can determine the accurate distribution of substances and features in cells and tissues, and thus it can improve the robustness of the resulting data.